Monroe man follows his father's D-Day footsteps

9:14 AM,
Jun. 6, 2014

This June 6, 1944, file photo shows American soldiers of the Allied Expeditionary Force securing a beachhead during initial landing operations at Normandy, France. From the first sketchy German radio broadcast to the distribution of images filmed in color, it has taken decades for the full story of the D-Day invasion to come out.

Written by

Bob Hammack
Special to The News-Star

It was shortly before midnight, the beginning of June 6, 1944. Plane after plane was nearing the coast of France, including elements of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, a U.S. Army light infantry regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division. One of those planes carried a 21-year-old New Orleans native by the name of Robert Douglas Hammack - Dad.

It was the beginning of D-Day and the battle for Normandy. Before it would end, of the 2,000 members of the 506th who jumped into France, 231 were killed in action, 183 were missing or taken prisoner and 569 wounded, about a 50 percent casualty rate.